My Take on Heller v. D.C.

The Second Amendment has nothing to do with the National Guard.

A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.

I keep hearing the anti-gun people saying that the folks who wrote the constitution meant for the Second Amendment to ensure that the National Guard were able to keep and bear their arms. I've been wondering about this for a while, so I did a little research. Here is what I discovered.

In 1792, the second Congress of the United States passed a law called the Militia Act of 1792. This law clarifies the definition of “Militia”. Since it was passed in the day and age of the writers of the Constitution (it was probably written by a few of them), we can determine what the writers of the constitution had in mind when they used the word “Militia” in the Second Amendment. According to this law, the Militia consisted of “each and every free able-bodied white male citizen of the respective States, resident therein, who is or shall be of age of eighteen years, and under the age of forty-five years.” Thus, the Militia was all the menfolk. Thus, the Second Amendment was intended to protect the menfolk's right to keep and bear arms.

The National Guard was not created until 1903, when Congress passed the Militia Act of 1903. Although the National Guard, according to their website, claims to be the “the oldest component of the Armed Forces of the United States and one of the nation's longest-enduring institutions,” celebrating “its 370th birthday on December 13, 2006”, the truth is, that it is just shy of 100 years old.

In fact, the current law says the exact opposite of what the National Guard claims. U.S. Code : Title 10 : Section 311 says “(a) The militia of the United States consists of all able-bodied males at least 17 years of age and, except as provided in section 313 of title 32, under 45 years of age who are, or who have made a declaration of intention to become, citizens of the United States and of female citizens of the United States who are members of the National Guard. (b) The classes of the militia are - (1) the organized militia, which consists of the National Guard and the Naval Militia; and (2) the unorganized militia, which consists of the members of the militia who are not members of the National Guard or the Naval Militia.” So the militia is still essentially the same as it was in 1792, and in fact, the National Guard is, by law, a part of the Militia. The National Guard is not the Militia, it is merely a part of it.

So my conclusion is this: The Second Amendment originally gave individual people the right to keep and bear arms, and since the National Guard is now a part of the Militia, they have the right to keep and bear arms as well. So I guess, the Second Amendment really does have to do with the National Guard, but not in the way that the anti-gun folks would have you believe.

Now for my second rant... keep AND bear... AND! Why is open carry against the law in so many places? I'll leave it at that.

Field Trip

Since we had the day off, I took the boys to Westville and Providence Canyon. We had a pretty good time. We got to help make soap and candles, see the blacksmith and carpenter, and talk to some pretty interesting people about life in the 1850s. At the canyon, we took the 3-mile hike and saw some beautiful sights. What a day!


Judah stirring the soap


Caleb on the wagon-pulling mule


"Can we go home yet..."

Finished Siding

With the exception of stapling it down, all of the siding is finished. The porch is done, and it is nearly ready to be painted. I think there are a few things that need to be done before that can take place, but it's close.
Most of the inside framing was also completed today. There are only a couple of things left to do. The plumbing should get finished pretty quick, and then on to electrical, HVAC, then drywall...


All the siding on the house and a finished porch


Upstairs framing in the living room

Porch Finished

They finished the porch today, with the exception of a couple of boards on the inside. Tomorrow, John says that they should be entirely finished with the framing, inside and out. Wonderful stuff.


Almost official on the outside

Front Siding and Porch

They got some of the siding done on the front of the house today. They also did some of the framing on the porch. It looks like tomorrow they can put in the vent and finish the siding. Unless it sprinkles or something, in which case, they won't be at work for a couple of weeks...

They did FINISH the roof! I checked inside, and didn't see any leaks at all- YAY!


A little progress- windows boarded up for the rain

Roof n' Sides

The front of the garage got its siding and windows today. It looks great. The roof is within 90% complete. They should be finished with the roof tomorrow, weather permitting. The porch is supposed to be worked on tomorrow, and the siding is supposed to be installed on the front of the house. If they finish, then the siding will be complete, and there will only be a few minor details before we can get the outside of the house painted. If it does rain, they are hopefully going to work on some of the framing on the inside of the house.
In the first picture you may notice the two window holes above the porch. John just cut the big one, and he is supposed to fill in the smaller one. The small window wasn't big enough for code, so we had to get a bigger one. I was kind of worried that being off-center, it wouldn't look right, but now that I see it, I think it looks pretty good. It will look great when there is a window over it and siding all around it. It will look even better when there is furniture in the room and I can enjoy the view through it!


Roofers hard at work- they don't work half days like certain framing crews do


Love the window in the playroom- From this angle, it almost looks like a real house

Roof and Siding

Lots of stuff happened recently. The roof is nearly complete. They only have a few shingles to go. I think they will be done tomorrow- Wednesday, the latest. The siding is coming along. They are supposed to do the front of the garage tomorrow, and then finish building the porch, then put the siding on the front of the house. After they finish that, they should move to the inside and finish the framing there. It won't be long until we ... well judging from the way things have been thus far, it probably will be a while yet... before anything else happens. I think have succumbed to the squalor of apartment life.


Siding on the back side of the bedrooms- bathroom in the middle


Front of the house- look at the lovely shingles


Shingles on the back- Playroom windows newly expanded and awaiting... windows, and siding, too

More Plumbing and Stuff

The new framing crew started today and got most of the fascia board up on the edges of the eaves. They ran out and are supposed to start back at it in the morning. They also nearly finished the eaves on the porch. The roofers are also supposed to start tomorrow.
We got some of the rough supply plumbing done as well. The Manabloc is mounted, and some of the minor fixtures like the washing machine supply. We will start running the PEX lines out to the fixtures tomorrow.


Nearly finished eaves on the porch, ready for fascia


The fascia board on the front of the garage


The Manabloc, ready for a supply line and plumbing out to all of the fixtures in the house

Grits Falling From the Sky

We're in the deep south... It couldn't have been snow. This was Saturday morning. It only snowed for about 15 or 20 minutes. The rest of the day was beautiful blue skies.

Plumbing and Stuff

After many days of work, the rough plumbing (drain-side) is done with the exception of two connections. It is ready for inspection. We are supposed to start on the PEX supply lines tomorrow.
The bank has approved us spending money on a new framing crew (the previous one was fired) to finish the framing and siding. The bank also said we could have money to hire a roofer. The framing is supposed to take 8 days, starting tomorrow, and the roofing should start Wednesday and be done by Friday. After all the hold-ups (this set of hold-ups), progress is finally being made (again)... How many times have I said that?


Some of the drains in the laundry room and master bath


The boys' bathtub